What happens when you take a blob of something different and you force it into the cookie cutter world of shiduchim?

Monday, March 16, 2009

A Comment About Comments

Q. How many bloggers does it take to change a lightbulb?

A. 100. 1 to change the lightbulb and 99 to comment on how it should have been done differently.

It's funny, how all bloggers that I have spoken with regarding comments seem to feel the same. Bloggers place their entire self worth in the comments. (I will speak for myself now, although I have heard from numerous bloggers, and they all seem to feel the same way.) I sometimes write a post, and I feel very good about myself. I feel like it was a great post, perhaps one of my favorites. I hit the "publish post" button, feeling really good about myself. An hour later, I check my email, expecting to see at least two or three comments. Gmail loads, and the truth hits me. No comments. I start to rationalize. "Most people are probably not at their computers now." An hour after that, and yet another hour, and I still see no comments. I wake up the next morning to find someone has left a single comment on my awesome post. One comment?! Is that really it? I am horrified. And disappointed. I start to fret. "Maybe I wrote something offensive? Maybe I put in my real name instead of SD? What did I do wrong? How come nobody thought of anything to say on my post?"

Isn't it ridiculous? I am second guessing myself? Why? Because these anonymous people online have nothing to say about my post? Don't I have more self confidence than that? Sadly, I am afraid the answer is no. Not really. A post of mine that receives too few comments will be read and reread, in the hopes of discovering the reason that people have nothing to add.

Shame, huh?

But c'mon! You know this is you too. Some of us are too proud to admit it, and some of us don't really mind. Either way, comments are (IMO) the psychological reason behind the growth of blogsville.

28 comments:

I saw 0 comments and just had to hit the comment button even though I have nothing smart to add. I used to be much more into the comments. At this point, though I truly value the input and the time people take to comment, I don't obsess over it at all. Maybe the same will happen to you when blogging loses some of its appeal to you (if that happens).

BTW, ever notice that the posts that tend to get the most comments are the inflammatory ones?This poses an internal conflict for me because the posts that I enjoyputting up the most are the ones that bring people TOGETHER....

People comment to add something to what you wrote. If they didn't comment it just means that they were amazed by what you wrote, and found nothing about it to comment on. I mean common- why waste all that time it takes for the comment screen to load and for that whole form thingy just to write wow!

G6- true, true. Unless the influx of comments becomes a discussion totally unrelated to the post, which is pretty agravating too. (See the hilchos havdala discussion in my post: desperation in shidduchim). I don't have a dillema tho. I'm all for controversy. ;)

Insp- what's the riddle? How many low diabetics does it take to change a lightbulb? Gosh, I don't even know the answer to that one but I can guess.... ;)And that is NO EXCUSE. :-p

Anon- I think you need to invest in faster Internet service. If that is the first time that you have had anything to say about a post other than wow....all I can say is......WOW!

Some of my favorite posts have gotten 4 comments, something I was expecting was atleast 10. Then I noticed when you write something where you put everything into to it, no one has anything to say to it, its all said in the post.

I did write a post where I bashed the people who complimented me, and said I liked where people say derogatory things to me, I get more comments that way. I got a lot of comments on that post

Ok everybody! I have officially started the I-Love-Comments-Club!I am the founder/president. The other offices are up for grabs. Feel free to add the badge to your blog and let ppl know that they should be commenting more often. :-)

Oh man, I am sooo joining this club! Hmmm...how about an official commenting committee. You must contribute something intelligent to the comments section of each club members' posts, or else you can't join the club?! (or are we no thatttt desperate?)

Anon1- well if this post didn't get comments it would be pretty embarrassing.

Thinking- nah, it's not such an exclusive club. If you wanna join you can put our badge up on your blog. :) (In truth, I know that most bloggers will join in their heads. They might be too proud to admit to it though...)

Nope. It's tempting to aim for the comments, but sometimes something is just well-written and enjoyable, and doesn't bear commenting on. I try to keep that in mind; just because there aren't a lot of comments, doesn't mean it isn't a good post.

I agree with bad4, well-written, heartfelt postings have great meaning, regardless of recognition. Although, I have to admit that as a newish blogger, I am envious of the more established bloggers that receive 20+ comments on a post...